Moonbounce

Moon bounce

Many members of the VARC are interested in advanced radio communications methods. With that thought in mind who has not looked up at the moon and thought that if light can be reflected off the moon to the earth why not radio signals?

A Short History…

Earth-Moon-Earth, also known as moon bounce, is a radio communications technique which relies on the propagation of radio waves from an Earth-based transmitter directed via reflection from the surface of the Moon back to an Earth-based receiver.

The use of the Moon as a passive communications satellite was proposed by Mr. W.J. Brayof the British General Post Officein 1940. It was calculated that with the available microwave transmission powers and low noise receivers, it would be possible to beam microwave signals up from Earth and reflect off the Moon. It was thought that at least one voice channel would be possible.

The “moon bounce” technique was developed by the United States Militaryin the years after World War II, with the first successful reception of echoes off the Moon being carried out at Fort Monmouth, New Jerseyon January 10, 1946 by John H. DeWittas part of Project Diana.The Communications Moon relayproject that followed led to more practical uses, including a teletypelink between the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaiiand United States Navyheadquarters in Washington, D.C. In the days before communications satellites, a link free of the vagaries of ionospheric propagation revolutionary.

Later, the technique was used by non-military commercial users, and the first radio amateur detection of reflected signals from the Moon took place in 1953.

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